Club football championship

[Abercrombie Fitch]

I feel Clara underestimated Edenderry last year having beaten Rhode well in the semi. Hard to see that happening again, especially under new management. Clara to win with 4 or 5 to spare.

Rhode should have too much for Tullamore and will set up their 3rd county final v Clara in 4 years.

[Goodsupporter11]

Clara v Rhode county final

[DAF]

Rhode 0-17 Tullamore 2-7

Niall McNamee was a class apart.He must have scored about 9 points all but one from play and some of his scores were from tricky angles. Tullamore for some unknown reason decided to stick with the same player on McNamee for the first 50 minutes or so minutes despite it being obvious a switch needed to be made in the first 10 minutes.I have no idea why Paul McConway who is Tullamores best defender didn't mark McNamee in the time he was on him at the end of the match he made things alot more difficult for McNamee.The goal kept Tullamore in the game hut Rhode always had a bit too much for them.Rhode played with alot of men in defence and as a result Shane Dooley was anonoymous for alot of the game and Williamson went too far out the field to cause any trouble.Michael Brazil was Tullamores best player and scored a couple of lovely points with his left foot.Anton Sullivan came on late in the game for Rhode so he will probably be fit for the county final.Without McNamee Rhode look fairly average and if a team can stifle him then Rhode would struggle

Clara 1-13 Edenderry 2-7

This was a very dead game that only sparked to life mid way through the second half when Edenderry scored a brilliant team goal, one of the best I have seen which put them in the lead but Clara bounced back and Ross Brady scored a goal from a hopeful ball into the square which wasnt dealt with by the Edenderry defence.Clara though were the better team and deserved their victory they dominated midfield an Edenderry were very negative and and left and enormous gap with no players between their half back line and full forward line.John O'Hara was the best player on the field and looks like he could be in the running for Offaly.

[kingscounty]

Rhode 0-17 Tullamore 2-7

Niall McNamee was a class apart.He must have scored about 9 points all but one from play and some of his scores were from tricky angles. Tullamore for some unknown reason decided to stick with the same player on McNamee for the first 50 minutes or so minutes despite it being obvious a switch needed to be made in the first 10 minutes.I have no idea why Paul McConway who is Tullamores best defender didn't mark McNamee in the time he was on him at the end of the match he made things alot more difficult for McNamee.The goal kept Tullamore in the game hut Rhode always had a bit too much for them.Rhode played with alot of men in defence and as a result Shane Dooley was anonoymous for alot of the game and Williamson went too far out the field to cause any trouble.Michael Brazil was Tullamores best player and scored a couple of lovely points with his left foot.Anton Sullivan came on late in the game for Rhode so he will probably be fit for the county final.Without McNamee Rhode look fairly average and if a team can stifle him then Rhode would struggle

Clara 1-13 Edenderry 2-7

This was a very dead game that only sparked to life mid way through the second half when Edenderry scored a brilliant team goal, one of the best I have seen which put them in the lead but Clara bounced back and Ross Brady scored a goal from a hopeful ball into the square which wasnt dealt with by the Edenderry defence.Clara though were the better team and deserved their victory they dominated midfield an Edenderry were very negative and and left and enormous gap with no players between their half back line and full forward line.John O'Hara was the best player on the field and looks like he could be in the running for Offaly.

i would agree with daf here. rhode were very reliant on niall mc and he pulled off some wonderful scores but with anton back if he starts the final it will give niall some help up front.brazil got some nice points but at times he carried the ball into trouble instead of passing it. rhode will need alan mc and co back for the final as clara will be a bigger challenge than tullamore were.the second game for me was very poor, clara must have had 70% of the ball and still didnt kill the game off until the goal at the end,edenderry were out of it at midfield and i thought scott brady did a good job man marking dalton who after the first 10 mins got it hard to win any ball. it looked liked edenderrys game plan was to leave two men up front and bring their half forward line back and defend for most of the game and i feel this is why it was a poor game.clara kicked 10 or 12 wides but at the end they deserved to win as they were the team trying to play football, whereas edenderry had id say 2 wides which shows how negative they were.the atmosphere for the second game was brutal and only for the goals at the end it sparked a bit of life into the crowd.

[offaly2012]

LADS Rhode scored 15points from play and 2 from frees.

Niall Mcnamee was class but there was more than him that had great games

Pauric Sullivan , Paschal Kellaghan

then you had conor mcnamee
shane sullivan
brian darby
and I could go on and on

[DAF]

LADS Rhode scored 15points from play and 2 from frees.

Niall Mcnamee was class but there was more than him that had great games

Pauric Sullivan , Paschal Kellaghan

then you had conor mcnamee
shane sullivan
brian darby
and I could go on and on

The one time in big game in the last few years I have seen him have a bad game was last year against Clara and Rhode were poor and were well beaten.On top of his point scoring ability McNamee is Rhodes best creative player he was probably involved in the rest of Rhodes scores apart from the ones he got himself.Rhode only won by 4 points and as I said in my initial post of you stop McNamee Rhode are a good deal worse, he is way more important to Rhode than any one player is to Clara.Although Anton Sullivan will provide him with some extra support in the final

[offaly2012]

Clara only won by 2/3 pts and Rhode are definetly way better than edenderry

[DAF]

Clara only won by 2/3 pts and Rhode are definetly way better than edenderry

Rhode only beat Tullamore by 4 points and Clara are defintely way better than Tullamore.

That has got nothing to do with Rhode being dependent on McNamee.If Clara stifle McNamee then Rhodes chances are severely impacted however I honestly dont think Clara have one key player that Rhode can target that will seriously dent their chances to the extent Rhode would be affected by McNamee having a bad game.

[offalyman18]

All this talk about rhode beating tullamore by so many points and clara beating edenderry by a few points doesnt mean a thing, this final will be 100% 50/50 its impossible to pick a winner going on this years form from either team.... one thing that is fairly certain is there will only be a score or two in the difference come the end of the game.

[Bord na Mona man]

Stopping Niall McNamee is not about finding the best man-marker, or giving different backs a turn at marking him if he is on fire.

It's about cutting out the supply route and reducing his space, making him have to beat more than just one player to get a shot.

This, for example, is where Clara failed in the 2010 County Final. They went for convential man-for-man with the Rhode forwards for most of the game. Essentially meaning whoever was marking Niall had to win 10 balls out of every 10...or else.

[Goodsupporter11]

Honestly you would have to say, although they were good worked goals by Edenderry & Tullamore, they realy kept them in touch with Clara & rhode. The goals scored by Eden & Tull were against the run of play(expect tull 1st goal). You would wonder maybe what would have been the final scores if one or two 0f these wernt scored. Clara will have too bring there shooting boots if they are to give Rhode a challenge in two weeks (15 wides). Good point made by DAF. Rhode are extremely reliant on two or three players. Clara have a serious challenge ahead of them in dealing with Niall. im guessing a man marker and someone sitting in front of him will be the tactic emplied by clara. Rhode have to deal with 5/6 fowards just as dangerous as the other. The problem for Clara is and has been for 3 or 4 years now is, they very rarely have a day when there top 6/7/8 players all hit form on the same day. If Claras key players all have a good game clara are well capable of beating Rhode. For this reason i would have to say Rhode will win by two or three points to spare.

[offaly2012]

Rhode have many key players


Niall Mcnamee
Alan Mcnamee
Pauric sullivan
shane sullivan
Brian Darby
Paschal Kellaghan
Bunny Dunne
Two mcpaddens
Anton sullivan

Conor Mcnamee has proved he can keep a place

[Goodsupporter11]

Anton And Niall are head and shoulders above the rest.
Think of it like this........... If Anton & Niall had a 9 star rating,shane Sul a 8 star rating, the rest of them players would be a 7 or 6 star rating.
Pascal is well gone by his best. He was made look good against tull, he had a free role, dosing around the field. He wont have that kind of influence in the final

Clara have seven or eight players who would have a 8 star rating. (i know this is a simple analogy)
Tomas Deehan
John o' hara
Ross Brady
Matthew Mitchell
John Reynolds
Kevin Meehan
Joe Quinn
Graham G
Scott Brady

This is why i say if Clara's key players hit form on same day they are more than capable of winning. But this won't happen.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Who is G Gremhan for Clara, Ross Brady? 9 star/ Mat Mitchell???
Look, tis simple, Clara are a good solid side, but they have more potential to buckle under pressure than Rhode, but lets face it Rhode have a great record of getting it right on final day. I am going for Rhode by 4 points.

[offaly2012]

Good supporter away with the fairys If you think paschal had no influence in the game again tullamore